US President Donald Trump doubled down on plans to deploy federal troops in Chicago — insisting on Tuesday that it had become the “most dangerous city in the world”. The POTUS has repeatedly pressured Illinois Governor JB Pritzker to accept federal assistance — warning federal troops would be sent if local officials did not act swiftly.
“Chicago’s a mess. You have an incompetent mayor. Grossly incompetent. And we’ll straighten that one out probably next. That’ll be our next one after this. And it won’t even be tough,” he had insisted towards the end of August.
‘Murder capital of the world’
“At least 54 people were shot in Chicago over the weekend, eight people were killed. The last two weekends were similar. Chicago is the worst and most dangerous city in the World, by far. Pritzker needs help badly; he just doesn’t know it yet. I will solve the crime problem fast, just like I did in DC. Chicago will be safe again, and soon. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump wrote on Tuesday morning.
This was followed by a succinct all-caps post that called Chicago the “murder capital of the world”.
Dozens of shootings over Labor Day weekend
Eight people were killed and 50 others were wounded as dozens of shootings rocked Chicago over the Labor Day weekend,. According to the police, a total of 58 people were shot in 37 separate incidents between Friday night and Monday night. Preliminary information suggested that most involved a single victim, while multiple people were injured in three of the attacks. Several of the victims were listed as being in a serious or critical condition.
Legal hurdles?
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from using the military to fight crime in California — paving the way for possible legal hurdles. The verdict on Tuesday said the government had violated a law known as the Posse Comitatus Act with its June deployment of 4,000 National Guard and 700 active-duty US Marines to Los Angeles. This Act incidentally limits the use of federal troops for domestic enforcement. US District Judge Charles Breyer has put the ruling on hold till September 12, and the Trump administration is likely to appeal.
The injunction applies only to the military in California and not nationally. But the judge also touched upon recent comments made by Trump about sending troops to Chicago and other cities — noting that they provided support for the ruling. The POTUS had insisted during an August 27 Cabinet meeting that he had the right to “do anything I want to do … if I think our country is in danger”. Trump had previously insisted that troops were needed in Los Angeles to protect federal agents carrying out immigration enforcement after large-scale immigration raids triggered protests.
